Signal buoy



April 23, 1929. E, wlLcKENs 1,709,890;

SIGNAL BUOY Filed May 26, 1928 fffrglwr Y n i" rPatented Apr. 23,; `1929.

l `',1`hiszinvention relates to buoys or similar 11p vsignalling stations fitted with acoustical sig- 1. :nalling apparatus. 4 ,n

- "Forthe purpose of facilitating navigation visibility is poor, important points are made y Q recognizable by means of optical and .acous- 7' '.ticalsignals.Y AY'Whilstoptical signals have ,f been perfected to such-an'extent that the same 1Y0 willoperateautomatically in perfectly rel liable mannerfor somezconsiderable time, so that;V economy. V'may beei'ected as far as at-` tendant personnel is concerned, this has not v. j been achieved upto now in reliable and prack1.5 `ticallnannerinthe case of acoustical signal- 1 olii'lg-ptmeans..Vv It isV accordingly nec'e'ssaryat f important :points tol provide manned light .:ijshipsv or4 land stations.. In order to cut down the heavy expenses thus incurred, attempts f have variously beenk made to mount submarine -I bells on buoys,.and to maintain these in oper- Y ation by means of gas stored Within the buoy. Experience has shown that thistype of soundl1 i transmitting apparatusfis' extremely liable to .35 get ink ,disorder after a short time, lasr the famountfof gas consumed is too great, and the mechanical construction `of senders of this typ"e, y repeatedly lgives rise to disturbances. ,.:In' the case of sending apparatus not, operd f ated bygas, but* by the action of the sea, the occurence of-mechanical udisturbances is k,also x veryfrequentg Inparticular buoys of the lat- J ,tervitype disclose the great disadvantage that v AJin. the caseiofA fog or when -visibilityis poor I signals arevnotemitted at all, as in this very "vveatherfthereis practically no wind whatsoever, so thatthe buoys are then almost im.- nm@vailleill-the' Water- Y o On the otherhand the mariner must necesfsarilyf'relyon these signals, as otherwise the fsamerathermore tend to constitute a source of `danger-than a means for increasing the'safety Vof navigation. n lNow it is the objectfof'the invention to profvide'fautomatic overwater or submarine sigl r wherebyit isgavoided to employsignalling or i sending apparatus which have been developed i gandconstructed for other purposes, and signalling apparatus are remployed which are nnmannedstations.'

-' ERNST WILcxENs, or BaRLnv,einnuuelvv;V f-

",'fin the case of fog or on-other occasions whenv sound. i .n n t When usinga plurality of senders the ar-v r .rangement 1s such that the distancebetweenv nalsffactingin,perfectly reliable manner,

specrz'iically intended forthe requirements fof 'Ihepsignallingdor v sending apparatus: ac?

PTN T'FF'I CE SIGNAL BuoY. i n

Application mea Mayas, 192s, senat No. 280,945, and ni serially-11111514, 17927.71

cordin to the inventionvvdo notpossess anyV parts hablepto wear, and require for, the same 55` strength ofsound less primary venergy than se are employed in place ofthe usual senders `manipulated byvtheapplication Aofblows.

These diaphragm senders in comparisonwith 65 the other type possess a 'greater degree of eliiciency, and therefore requirev less primary energy for generatlng the same strength of the same is in a certainyproportion'to the length of vsound wave, so; that for :example When using two senders thesame' are situat-v ed at a distance apart Yvv-hichis equal or ap- 1 l proximately equalto half a wavelength. In this .manner a ieldof sound. is generated, which corresponds not v. onlyj to a doubled strength of sound, l but to four .timesL the strengthof sound-of one sender. `Itwill be obvious, therefore, that when using'grouped i senders, independently ofthe elriciency,1mere Y ly a quarter of the primary energy is required for lgenerating the same strength of sound.

This -ifof considerable:importance in View of i' d the long period of operationof unmanned stav tions. v a, .l s From the employment 'of .a plurality of Asenders in the arrangement described, the recvognitlon is furthermoreto be deduced that'if 90 Aweight and alsoA the sending lapparatus re quireY 'to be particularly sma l, high sending frequencies require to be selected, as with in- ,I

creasing frequency thewave lengthy and together therewith thedistance. between "thef 95 senders becomes smaller. n For this reason frequencies of not less than" approximately 200l `will be employed inthe case of'overwater senders, or approximately 900 inthe case of submarme senders.

theoretical considerations, :be vpreferably so constructed that the rear Wall of thecasingof 6o For the above reaspns'continuouslyl excited dlaphragm senders ofthe .type known per ,100 In order toattain a maxlmum 1nthefut1l1- n the sender constitutes ft 1'adiating,'i. e., energy emitting diap1'11'agm. This arrangement en-j" .ab1es, for example'wlth the `sanne diameterA ing of'weight iseH'eetedby avoidingthe thiek casing Wall, theedge mass of the diaphragml phragm thelattei', due tothe opps'it'e 'action Vofthe two, remains stationery'. In tneease eff fthepresent vinvention ;'l f

senders having-only onefdiaphljagmthje edge "sainey efeet, niu'st in ,they known nfmnnei'l e'o-n-l stitute fa plurality'of theeent'raliv-bratoy mess. "It will; th's bejseen that Vin the normal drawing, iii-Which the'szu'ne reference fe/hai"- denoting'the same pai-ts.'

f Fig. 2 Vis a lnodiieation;

' Fig. 3' "howsl'd'agrn metieaHyzini'L-ztp-pa- 'Ratus employed infllie'of :t buoy and fl'jes'ting on they bed off the. same;V and,

params l-of `the diap'hragm'type, ande. submarine" aeeustieatll signalling apparatus''2, also of thedaphregm ty'pekf'lhese'appara? tus or senders site Opeijeted byfnea'ns ofggs,

plies `gas tof' the Vsen'de'ifat 'Certain Eintevgd'sof' Vbuoy is're'eharged with' gas, the'aftiangement is 'such 'that these-riders are Capable of being 1 y Ylatter is in thewater,

T estingfonthe bed of the seep' 'mhebztseplte point. may with thi'sa-rrangement bey made'YeryQ; small, as with equiphase exeitation'of the dia- A 4 b e-o'pemted either' el'e'e-tiez'vliylf pneumat-VV *ica-1m T hdi'aphfagm 'f isrmly convened This uembodiment morev Vpeitie'la'rly'ntended for use in' such caseswhen buoys might constitute an obstruction to shipping,

phrgtgm type in prineip1e. Thissender may Vlaag-55 fear wel of. bhmingiigfre een@@www1-held gly'f'attained i'nths afs Withentfthe 'fromV spirit'ofthe inventif) iguale, and :control means 4 shows a'lnoi-inal sendeiho'f'y the dia-1 i i 'I5Y Y Vloo `1,709,890 'v v Y Y k' 3 resverarvoriV-rV in lsadbody connected to said sigof said tail member, a sgnaldisposed on the f y lnals. and controlmeans for regulatlng the gas upper part of sa-l'd body, a gas reservon A- l d* supply to said signale. connected to said asignal, and control means 10 Y 4. In a-.buoy having a floating body and for regulating the gas Supply to said signalsf a hollow tail member extending through the l In testimony whereof I have axed my y ybodyand projectingY downwardly therefrom, signature.

j a.y removable acoustlcal signal in the wall of ERNST WILCKENS. 

